Competition is normal, says CE

The Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, said that today that competition in the gaming industry was normal and inevitable -- and the Government was very optimistic towards the healthy development of the industry in the future. Speaking to the press before departing for Fujian for two economic events, Mr Ho remarked that the first phase of competition in the industry had just begun, following liberalisation in 2002. He said competition would boost the standard of the industry. Statistics showed that despite the changes in the market share brought about by competition, all gaming operators registered significant growth in revenues, Mr Ho said. He said that not every person would be happy during the process of competition and progression; however, it would be abnormal for the Government to introduce regulations to prevent competition among the gaming operators. When all the six operators compete with each other, the revenue of particular operators might drop, but this was expected and it would only lift the standard of the whole industry, and at the same time, enlarge the size of the market. He said that the competition in the gaming market would continue for a long time. He said it was improbable for Macao to issue new gaming licenses and the distribution of licenses would remain the same -- three concessionaires and three sub-leased concessionaires, in the long term. He said that this distribution would prevent most operators from vicious competition, and the Government was very optimistic towards the healthy development in the industry. He believed that Macao would keep its competitive advantages and maintain its role as a gaming, tourism and exhibition hub in the Pearl River Delta and the Asia-Pacific regions. Mr Ho said that the rapid development of the gaming industry had raised the operational cost of small-and-medium sized enterprises and aggravated the shortage of human resources, and the Government would try to devise measures to tackle these issues in the next Policy Address. However, he reiterated that the overall economic development of Macao had created more job opportunities and better careers for residents and it was improper for the Government to restrain development which originated from competition in a market-oriented economy. Moreover, he called on the business sectors to acknowledge that the business environment and the habits of consumers would change rapidly due to advances in development of the transportation network in the Pearl River Delta. Macao enterprises would not be able to survive if they could not compete with competitors in the entire region, he added.